It wasn’t going to be that easy. POW, Danae, Vendetta and Stronghold meet the heavy cruisers Atago Kumano and Suzuya, the light cruiser Jintsu and 3 destroyers. Despite its injuries, POW achieves penetrating hits on Atago. After an indecisive exchange of fire and torpedoes, both task forces break off.

Off Suva, I-173 sunk an xAK.

Near Palenbang, CL Danae, attacked by SS I-158 gets hit by one torpedo. With heavy flotation damage she heads for Batavia.

SS Cachalot.

KB has not been seen since the 19th. Each day that passes increases the area where the enemy carriers might be hiding. New orders arrive. The US submarines will wait for the carriers at the entrance to the Japanese naval shipyards. Cachalot will patrol off Yokohama.

A support task force departs San Francisco for the Aleutian island of Attu. The plan is to establish a submarine base at that desolate outpost. No one asked the sailors though.

December 24th

Christmas Eve. Not a Merry Christmas anywhere in the Pacific; except for Japan, but they don’t celebrate Christmas.

At Singapore the fateful decision has to be made. Despite the waters teeming with Japanese, all vessels in the harbor that are capable of sailing will do so. A plethora of small single and two vessel task forces will attempt to break out. Perhaps some will get through.

To add insult to injury, Zeros bomb the POW task force and achieve 3 hits on the long suffering CL Danae with 60Kg bombs. The task force continues to steam south at 7 knots.

Tarawa, Kuala Lumpur, Taytay, and Davao fall.

Pallisier in Repulse, with light cruisers picked up at Soerabaja will attempt a raid on the vicinity of Singapore.

In San Francisco, Task force Air 1, under Fletcher departs for the south Pacific. It will drop off the marine fighters and vindicators as it passes near Midway. The carriers will not approach too closely though as there is a heavy enemy submarine presence around the island. Lexington, Saratoga, with the cruisers Portland and Astoria and 4 destroyers depart at cruise speed to conserve fuel. A replenishment task force of tankers and oilers, Repl-1 follows.

There is scarcely any fuel to be had south of Pearl Harbor. What the carriers will do, arriving at Suva unable to refuel is an open question.

S-41

Tarakan harbor is empty of enemy shipping. Despite the enemy forces, the Dutch flag still flies. The submarine creeps in and refuels. The sailors share their cigarettes and little else with the Dutch garrison. They then leave quietly. New orders. Patrol near Dadjangas. The course is ESE.

USS Cachalot.

The submarine runs ENE on the surface. Nothing is seen. No ships, no airplanes. Only an empty sea. Fuel status 67%

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

Pellisier’s force Z raid, its objective unclear, meets Zero fighters that achieve some success. DD Tenedos suffers 6 shell hits. The best that can be said is that it drew the fighters off the multitude of ships fleeing Singapore.

Ocean Island, Manado and Tavoy captured by the enemy.

S-41 Ordered to patrol the north entrance to the Makassar straits.

“I wish the MFs would make their minds up,” a salty torpedo man comments, to no one in particular. The pig is the main course at Christmas dinner.

USS Tambor.

Lt Commander JW Murphy cons the submarine out of the harbor. Her destination S. Angoshima Island off the coast of Honshu. The Lt Commander does not believe they will actually patrol there.

“They will change our patrol area a few times before we get there,” he tells his XO.

SS Gudgeon sailing north of Midway reports being snooped by a Japanese carrier airplane. KB must be near.

They almost made it. BB Kongo et al sink POW and CL Danae, almost within sight of Batavia. The only enemy casualty was DD Ariake. Stronghold and Vendetta, though damaged, make their escape.

Off Eastern Australia, CA Australia sinks to a torpedo from its nemesis SSI -159. She had been hit a few days earlier while transiting north. She continued her journey but, after flooding got worse decided to turn back. SSI-159 was waiting.

Rabaul invaded.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

The effort to evacuate Singapore harbor fails with most ships succumbing to enemy submarine and surface forces. West of Oosthaven, SSI-165 attacks Repulse, but misses and takes 2 depth charge hits from the angry escorts. SSI-162 attacks again DD Witte de With, and misses too.

In the Indian Ocean, Swordfish from Hermes report an enemy submarine west of Java.

At Pearl Harbor, tough decisions need to be made. Pennsylvania is moved out of the shipyard, to allow other ships that will repair faster to move in.

The Battlecruiser Repulse task force puts into Tilatjap to refuel before continuing route to Australia. While there, they are attacked by Kates from baby KB in the Java Sea. The AA is thick and accurate and the attack is repelled without losses.

All submarines change courses to locate themselves between the Japanese carriers and home.

December 29th 41

An enemy surface combat task force, led by BB Yamashiro puts in ay Tilatjap, looking, undoubtedly for Repulse. Pallisier has left already and is heading SE in the general direction of Australia, as yet undecided whether to head for Perth, remaining in the UK controlled part of the theater, but with little fuel and far from the action, or to Darwin, at the limit between US and UK control, nearer the action, but no better in terms of fuel and supplies.

Intelligence postulates three enemy carrier forces:

KB located in the NPAC, for the time being out of the action.

Small air task force near Batavia.

Small Air task force near Kendari.

Moulmein captured by the enemy.

CV Yorktown arrives at San Diego. Unfortunately there are not enough fighters to fill out its fighter group. Also, there are no escorts at the harbor and, the enemy submarine success being what it is, the Navy doesn’t dare let it leave unescorted.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

Darwin is a pocket - a trap. If he closes on it with superior forces there is no where to run. At least Perth has three directions you can bug out and a lot of open ocean to hide in. Even if it can only partially refuel Repulse, it should be enough to get her to Columbo or Cochin on SW India. Send tankers from Abadan to Perth to repay the debt.

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No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

BC Repulse, at sea. The message flimsy relayed via short wave radio from ABDA HQ in Batavia made his decision easy. Two enemy task forces were now in the Indian Ocean, one, the surface ships that had been making a nuisance of themselves at Tilatjap he’d known about. Now Palliser knew why they had delayed, pounding the unimportant harbor with their guns.

They had been bait. A task force just the right size to tempt him to engage. He had been tempted but, he knew full well that a battle cruiser was no match for a battleship. HMS Hood had shown that quite clearly in the Denmark Straits, earlier in the war. He did not rise to the bait and now, inpatient, the enemy showed their hand. Baby Kido Butai had just irrupted into the Indian Ocean with all the subtlety of a herd of buffalo.

To the North West of his task force.

There was no alternative. He could not flee west; the torpedo bombers of the enemy light carriers would nail him before he could get even close to the enemy. He’d learned to respect the Japanese air borne torpedoes. South west towards Perth was out too. Not only was his fuel status marginal precluding a high speed run, even if his engines could take it, he ran the risk of being trapped between the two Japanese task forces and the Australian coast. He gave the only orders he could give.

The task force steered ESE at full speed. Hermes would wait for him at Darwin.

Perth.

The 27th Australian Brigade debarks in the harbor. It has been a long run from Singapore, and now, the decimated brigade finally arrives at a safe harbor. Those in the know, or who pretend to be in the know, speak of rest and recuperation, of waiting for replacements, to take the place of those who died at sea. The men look around them. Why couldn’t it have been in Melbourne?

Port Moresby

Operation Cold Comfort. All the float planes at Port Moresby have been tasked with the doubtful mission of evacuating, or trying to evacuate the survivors from Rabaul.

Pearl Harbor.

Pennsylvania and Maryland are towed out of the shipyard. There are other ships that need to be repaired. Ships that will rejoin the war in time to make a difference.

SSI-23 attacks the tanker task force led by DD McCall. The torpedoes miss and the tankers steam on their way. Three submarines, including SS RO-62, attacked in vain by the ASW task force assigned to Midway prowl the ocean to the east of the island.

“Damn submarines,” Nimitz curses.

At San Diego, CV Yorktown sits, moored. The Pacific seems to crawl with enemy subs. The harbor is empty of escorts for the carrier. She must wait.

Johore Bahru falls to the Japanese; so does Tulagi.

North of Pegu, enemy forces cut the railroad line. There will be no easy way to withdraw from Rangoon.

SS Cachalot The fuel tanks are half empty, or half full. The sea is empty.

SS Tambor Fuel level is 82%. The submarine approaches the eastern entrance to the inland sea. The seas are empty of shipping.

Pollack and Thresher report in. They will arrive at their patrol locations tomorrow.

< Message edited by kaleun -- 1/26/2013 4:47:13 PM >

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

One of the enemy task forces turns East and heads towards Darwin. It is presumed to be Baby Kido Butai, now 240 nautical miles north of Derby and only 440 WNW of Darwin. All the ships in the congested harbor raise steam and flee east. So does Palliser with Repulse and Hermes.

There are now, no Royal Navy forces to speak of in the Indian Ocean. The whole Ocean is now, for all practical purposes, a Japanese lake.

The second task force heads south, towards Perth. Perth harbor is evacuated and all ships that can do so scramble to get around Australia and out of harm’s way.

Operation Cold Comfort has managed to evacuate the Rabaul base force, the BCoy rifle detachment and is now evacuating Lark force.

Short stay for the old boat. Just the time to refuel, get food aboard, including as much fresh fruit as the resourceful sailors can secrete in odd corners and, at night, set sail for their new patrol area NW of Bara. The objective is to block access to the Ceram Sea to the Japanese light CVL force, if and when they return from the Indian Ocean.

Doctrine. Doctrine is the spirit that drives a Navy. It is the guideline for the officers absent higher command. The US Navy’s doctrine is that of calculated risk. Do not risk your ship, your forces, unless there is a chance of hurting the enemy more than he can hurt you. The battle in the north Pacific, where three US carriers tangled with KB was an example of the above.

The IJN and the RN have a different doctrine.

Acceptable risk.

It means that, if there is a chance of hitting the enemy, you take it.

Recon out of Perth reports a CVL force approaching from the north. The port is evacuated. A second task force, with two escort carriers approaches Darwin from the NW.

Palliser knows that force. He’s tangled with their Kates at Tilatjap. He can deal with them, he believes. And he did not have Hermes then.

The Swordfish are ordered to load up with torpedoes. The ships turn to a heading of WNW and go to full speed. One strike, that is all, then turn about and head for Sidney and, hopefully, fuel.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

Dawn finds the ten biplanes on Hermes’ deck ready and armed. Shiny, deadly torpedoes hang from the fuselage. The pilots, briefed, chain smoke cigarettes in the ready room. Just before daybreak, all of Darwin’s Hudson patrol airplanes took off seeking the enemy task force. Palliser’s ships continue on course, closing in on the enemy ships.

But they are not to be found.

The two enemy task forces vanished into thin air or, into the salty ocean.

The pilots, young and inexperienced, feel the strain. Hours pass by and still they do not receive the order to take off and seek the enemy. Lunch is served, but no one eats. Coffee and tobacco is all they want, that is all they can stomach.

The sun runs west and, in the tropical evening, plummets towards the horizon. It is too late now; the order comes to stand down. Palliser orders the task force to turn about. They slow down to a more reasonable, economic speed and head east, toward the coral reef clogged Torres straits.

What happened?

Jan 5th 1942

The concept of a raiding task force, as thought of by the British, is tossed about. The raiding force created at Darwin had to flee before the superior Japanese forces and it is now half way to Port Moresby. The idea however might have merit.

Heavy cruisers, fast and powerful, may savage smaller enemy forces, those escorted by light cruisers and destroyers, if deployed to places unexpected. They may hit and run, punch and duck.

Necessity is the mother of invention and, at Pearl Harbor, RAdm Chas McAdams takes command of Raider force 1. CA Louisville, San Francisco, light cruiser Raleigh & Detroit, and the destroyers Hurly, Reid, Tucker, Selfridge. That is all that can be spared. The ships, at anchor, armed and fueled, wait at Pearl Harbor.

There is, of course one big problem. From Pearl, they cannot strike, fast and undetected, anywhere. They could do it from the south, Suva, or better yet, Noumea and Luganville. And here is the problem.

There is no fuel, down south.

Palliser, on Repulse, is now east of the tip of Australia. In waters under the command of the US Navy. But the US Navy gives him no orders, except to acknowledge his presence and say simply “Carry On.” In fact, the radio message tells him that there is a light cruiser force at Port Moresby, the Dutch cruisers with a couple of US light cruisers that he may use if needed.

What there isn’t, not at Port Moresby, or at Cooktown, nor anywhere north of Sidney is a drop of fuel to move those ships. Only what they have in their tanks. That is all.

And now, the Japanese task force makes an appearance. At Darwin. The battleships bombard the empty harbor, unhindered. Dans çe pays, il est bon de tuer an admiral, de temps en temps, pour encourager les autres. "In this country, it is good to shoot an admiral, from time to time, to encourage the others." Voltaire.

Traditions die hard in the Royal Navy. It is true that they haven’t shot an admiral for a long time, but memories are long and Palliser carries, within, all the institutional memory and tradition of the Royal Navy. A navy that once shot an admiral who, provided with an inadequate force, on leaking ships, was shot for not doing “his utmost” to defeat the enemy.

Maybe Admiral Byng's fate is in his memory when he calls the captains of his fleet aboard the flagship.

“Respectfully sir,” Capt A. Newman, CL Boise, objects, “I must object. We cannot reach the enemy task force, and if we do, we shall be outgunned. Two battleships, heavy cruisers and destroyers, not to mention the two escort carriers.”

The admiral sighs, “We are not going to reach the enemy captain. We shall just protect Hermes with our flak. We just need to get Hermes near enough for the Swordfish to attack. A single torpedo will sink one of those small carriers. Two or three will get us a battleship.”

“I must still object sir,” Newman insists.

“Put it in writing,” Palliser says curtly.

“I will.”

The fleet turns yet again and steams back across the Torres straits.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

The 12 Swordfish biplanes, their engines roaring at full speed, lumber down the short flight deck. They drag their torpedoes into the morning air and set out seeking the enemy.

Palliser orders a course change; the task force turns and heads ENE, opening the range to the enemy, now that the strike package is airborne. Repulse takes her station, port of the carrier, along the most likely threat axis. The AA gunners, on all ships, eyes peeled watch the sky. Most likely, a strike is heading their way, and that is as the Admiral planned it. The fighters, escorting the Kate bombers will not be there to protect the enemy ships and the swordfish, inexperienced or not, will hit their targets.

But that is not what the Japanese planned.

How they knew or guessed will never be known. The twelve biplanes met a CAP of a dozen Zero fighters over the enemy task force. Unprotected, slow, lumbering crates, the miracle is that only seven biplanes were destroyed. Even so, not one of them got through.

Nineteen Kate bombers, unescorted, find the allied task force. All the AA guns that bear, and some that don’t, open up. The Kates are armed with bombs, whether because they are out of torpedo range, or the small carriers are out of torpedoes is a moot question. CL Boise takes a bomb on her deck. Four bombers hit the flagship, but all the bombs bounce off her armor and the damage is minimal. Hermes is hit by four bombs that do not do much damage. It is the fifth, at first as ineffective as the prior four and then, the carrier seems to expand on the water. A huge fireball blows through the deck. A magazine exploded. The old, veteran ship lies dead in the water. Around her, destroyers pour water on the blazing inferno. She might yet swim; two destroyers surround her. She might make it to Townsville. While there is hope, the Royal Navy will fight on.

Through the night, the damage control teams on Hermes fight a heroic battle to save the ship. Flooding is not too bad but the damage to the ship’s pumps and fire suppression systems is such that the fires rage out of control and flooding increases, with the few pumps that are working unable to do much more than slow it down some. In the end, a paradox, fire and water, overwhelm the brave British tars and the ship is abandoned.

East of Timor, SS Seal takes a pot shot at BB Ise, but misses.

At Baker Island, SS RO 68 torpedoes AM Grebe. The Japanese captain must wonder what that little ship is doing here. An operational sea plane base is located here, with a small seaplane tender and a complement of Catalina patrol aircraft to provide early warning about Japanese intentions. Kavieng is close by and the allied lifeline to Australia and Suva passes very close to the enemy controlled waters. The floatplanes, currently, are assigned to ASW patrol; the waters teem with enemy subs.

One of the bombers at Suva reports hitting a Japanese submarine. The commander reaches for the salt shaker.

There are so many subs around Suva that the allied carriers deviate to Noumea. The harbor at Noumea is too small to be a suitable base (Not that Suva is much bigger but at least it can store fuel) but there is no fuel anywhere, anyway, so one base is as good as another.

An enemy force, possibly the carriers that did a number on Hermes seems to be penetrating the Arafura Sea. The US carriers are notified and swing their course a few degrees west. If the decision to penetrate the Coral Sea is made, they will be a few miles closer.

SS Perch, Salmon and Sailfish start another supply run to Bataan.

South of Rabaul, only Lark Battalion remains to be rescued.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

Jan 8th 42. Off Sidney, SS I-16 sinks a small cargo ship. NE of Baker Island, another Japanese submarine, seen by escorts is forced to submerge. An explosion at Perth turns out to be an enemy submarine hitting a mine.

Kuching falls. Jan 9th. Battle of Torres Straits.

Escorts are finally available and Yorktown leaves San Diego bound for the South Pacific.

Palliser finally gets his battle.

Off Portland Roads, Nagato meets two destroyers, the remains of Hermes’ escorts. The faster allied ships evade battle but warn Palliser who finds the enemy task force. CL Caledon fires torpedoes at Nagato, one of them is seen to hit the battleship but fails to explode. Caledon, undaunted fires a second spread and this time, her torpedo penetrates the battleship’s side and explodes. There is a cost to this as DD Kinigasa scores a torpedo hit on Caledon that sinks the light cruiser. CL Glasgow is also sunk at this battle.

Jan 8th 41? You time traveled back to catch this TF in training? Good show! Seriously, for this stage in the war this is a very good result. The Allies rarely get torpedo hits in a surface battle. I hope your cripples can make it to port. Where is his nearest port?

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No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

Operation Cold Comfort, the rescue by Port Moresby based floatplanes, of Rabaul’s defenders is put on hold as all the patrol craft are tasked with naval search duties to locate the enemy task force that yesterday engaged Repulse off Portland Roads. An unconfirmed report indicates that Japanese dive bombers were seen at Portland roads.

BC Repulse, unable to cope with flooding sinks almost within hailing distance of Cooktown.

Palliser tells his adjutant: “I hope you like cold weather.”

“Why sir?”

“Because after this, I shall command only the North Cape convoys to Murmansk.”

Enemy sub activity around Suva continues to be extract a heavy toll. Today, xAK J.L. Luchenbach sinks after being attacked by SS-171. SSI-172 attacks xAK Julia Luchenbach on the surface and sinks her, then goes on to hit TK Larry Dohey and sink the tanker. The escorts report a depth charge hit. SSI-18 torpedoes APD Water sinking her too.

Near Penrhyn island, SS I-20 scores a hit on CA Pensacola.

In the Coral Sea, Fletcher, his ships running on fumes, orders a final burst of speed to close on the Japanese escort carriers.

Fletcher’s Air 1 TF’s dive bombers find and attack the enemy task force near Cairns. Dauntless bombers score on BB Hyuga nine times; unfortunately, none of the bombs penetrate the battleship’s armor, but four of them report significant damage on the ship. BB Ise, DD Natsuguno and Huyoshio were also attacked and missed.

In the evening, Fletcher orders the carriers to a new course NW to try and cut off the enemy retreat. Fuel situation is however critical and tomorrow, regardless of results, the carriers must break off the pursuit and turn east to rendezvous with a replenishment task force that steams west to join them.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

A task force, composed of heavy cruisers is spotted to the east of Espiritu Santo. Chas H McManus’ raiding force, led by heavy cruisers Louisville and San Francisco, currently at Suva sets sail to intercept.

Palliser arrives at Sidney. Instead of a rebuke, he finds a telegram from the Prime Minister congratulating him on his actions. “In war, errors, towards the enemy,” he wrote, “must be forgiven.”

Jan 15th 1942

Suva is still a nest of enemy submarines despite incessant efforts by allied ASW task forces and air assets.

East of Espiritu Santo, an enemy cruiser task force, including Aoba and Kako, intercept an allied transport task force. The task force, escorted only by a few destroyers is savaged by the heavier enemy ships. The 57th Coastal artillery battalion, and the 112th USA Base force suffer heavy losses.

Soon after, McManus intercepts the enemy cruisers. It is an even slugfest in which Louisville and San Francisco suffer two impacts apiece, Kako 7 and Aoba one. The allied force withdraws towards Sidney to repair damages. McManus hopes that the Japanese do likewise.

Yorktown arrives at Pearl Harbor but there will be no shore leave for anyone. She refuels and sets out again.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

Your ASW only starts to get better after some of your DDs get their upgrades in February, a few more in March, and lots of them in April. The addition of depth charge throwers gives them a bigger pattern, and radar helps detect the subs when they are surfaced. Experience in ASW patrols also helps, so don't despair of no results just yet!

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No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

CV Indomitable arrived at Aden on the 16th. There were no escorts in harbor, so the ship must wait for some destroyers to arrive. The crew enjoys the limited pleasures of port while they wait. January 18th.

The Java Sea appears, for the moment, empty of enemy shipping. An attempt will be made to evacuate most of the assets at Soerabaja and Batavia.

Task Force Air one, finally, met the fuel tankers and is refueling. The carriers shall try and intercept the retreating cruiser task force that was intercepted by Mc Manus.

January 20th.

Fletcher must accept that the cruiser force has escaped him. After chasing north for two days, he must accept that they got away. Lexington has accumulated enough systems damage that it would be imprudent to approach Kwajalein any closer. Reluctantly he orders the ships to return to Sidney to repair and await Yorktown.

January 21st.

At Pearl Harbor, BB Pennsylvania returns to the shipyards. A light cruiser and a seaplane tender, almost completely repaired leave the shipyard to finish repairs pierside. PA has 78 system damage, 48 flotation and 25 engine damage. Estimates place the duration of repairs at 569 days. That is, if no other vessel needs the shipyard.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu

Meitkila was occupied by the Japanese on the 21st, Rangoon on the 22nd. Kavieng fell on the 24th. A Japanese task force identified in the vicinity of Timor seems suspiciously like an invasion force headed for N Australia. The 27th Australian Brigade at Perth ordered to pack up and head by train to Alice Springs. The 2/4 Infantry Coy at Sidney and the 1st Australian brigade also head to Alice Springs. From there, a strenuous march through the outback will take them near Darwin, but where exactly will they end up is anyone’s guess at this time.

At Akyab,8th Gurkha and the 21st light AA begin to unload from their transports.

SS I-16 scores one torpedo hit on CV Lexington off New Castle. She is close to Sidney and, barring other encounters with the prowling submarines she will survive. However, Halsey is down to one carrier, Saratoga, and that one damaged by her recent exertions.

Scanty good news for the allies. SS-O21 scores on AO Notoro off Samarinda. The oiler is left, burning brightly on the sea. Also, intelligence confirms that BB Nagato did sink.

Lexington disbands at Sidney. The news is not good. The flotation damage is 48% of this, 38% is too severe to be repaired in harbor at Sidney. The ship needs to go into dry dock but the shipyard at Sidney cannot accommodate a vessel of Lexington’s size. She will have to be patched up, as best as she can be, and then make the long trip to Pearl, or the US West coast. Saratoga disbands too to repair the damage done to her systems and engines. It will take 22 days to set her up.

Counterpunch will be launched on time, by February 25th. Lexington will not be available but Saratoga will.

BB Maryland enters the shipyard again at Pearl. The repair estimate is 499 days, that is assuming that she does not need to leave the yard again to make room for another vessel.

And disaster strikes again.

Allied transport task forces plying the sea lanes between Pearl Harbor and Australia have been provided with escorts against the deadly Japanese submarines. The number of escorts is insufficient in any case and the DDs and DMSs have to speed around the convoys like chickens without a head. Often only two escorts are assigned to protect forty or fifty ships. The enemy submarines though, elect to wait at Suva, Sidney and Noumea for the fat juicy transports to come to them. The escorts, impotent, can only watch as the enemy torpedoes slam into merchant hulls.

But Japan now tries something else. Something new, something that will change the game, yet again.

An enemy cruiser force intercepts an allied transport force near Baker Island. CA Aoka, CLs Tatsuta, Tenryu and Yubari with two destroyers, Isokaze and Kasumi attack the allied transports. Due to a fortunate or unfortunate twist of fate, CA Chicago happened to be in the task force, transiting to the SPAC area of operations. She fights gallantly, in vain.

After savaging the Chicago task force, they tangle with a tanker convoy. The cruisers make short work of the 3 corvettes escorting the laden tankers that are decimated. Before the day ends, a third tanker force escorted by two destroyer mine sweepers falls under the enemy guns and torpedoes.

CL Tatsuta and Yubari are reported to be on fire though.

The enemy move has been bold and methodical. The US-Pearl-Sidney line has been effectively shut down as all transport task forces flee to safe harbors. The loaded ones return to Pearl, the empty ones head back to Sidney. A new escort scheme has to be devised. From now on, convoys from the mainland to Hawaii (Designated USP (Westbound) and PUS (Eastbound) will continue to be escorted against submarine attack) Hawaii to Australia convoys, (PS and SP) will now have to be escorted by heavy surface units, preferably battleships. Colorado, New Mexico, Missisipi, and the old Warspite will leave SFCO for Pearl to participate in the new escort scheme.

Palliser, with his light cruiser force is recalled to Sidney.

AO Sabre sinks to torpedoes from SSI-159 at Noumea.

Manus is captured by the Japanese.

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Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. Sun Tzu